Survival of the Fittest
by jellybean112
Summary: With little of the world left, family and survival are about the only things remaining. And not necessarily in that order. Daryl is left to take care of his daughter when he barely knows how to take care of himself. Jovi is left with a father who barely knows her. Thrown together by blood bonds, they may just survive the new world. Eventual Carl/OCStarts Season 2.


**Hi everyone. **

**This is my first Walking Dead story. Please leave constructive criticism. **

**Enjoy!**

* * *

Despite everything that had already happened, what has most annoyed Jovi was not being on the motorcycle with her father.

Instead, she sat, sullen, at a small table which passed for an eating area in Dale's RV, wedged between the wall and Andrea, a pale blonde woman who had tried to make conversation with the pre-teen however had given up at the lack of response. Across from them sat Shane, a tall man who was thick with muscle and had been the reason for many of the women's tittering's back the camp. _The old c_amp. Jovi reminded herself. He was currently in the process of cleaning his gun with Andrea watching and Jovi studiously ignoring them both, favouring instead to glare out the window.

There was an abandoned book in front of her. Jovi had attempted to read but had left it after only ten minutes. Reading a book was the last thought on her mind as she watched the scenery pass by with her cheek pressed up against the wall. The wind tickled her face through the open window. All she could think about was the unfairness of it all.

The other children in the group, a boy named Carl and a girl named Sophia, got to ride with their parents. She had said as much to her father as he rolled the bike down off the tray of his truck.

"It ain't up for discussion," He replied without looking at her. "Yer riding in the RV."

"I've ridden on the bike before," Jovi argued obstinately. "It's not a big de-."

Her sentence was cut short as her father whipped around to stare at her. Jovi had never feared her father, like some others did, but the look in his eye made her go silent. "Yer riding in the RV and that's final." And so it was. Jovi had then gotten onto the RV, attitude and all, and perched herself at the table bench, hoping to sulk in silence.

That never happened as Andrea and Shane joined her at the table, and the group in the RV occasionally had a tense conversation. No one had laughed much since the CDC. They all wore a pinched, worried look on their faces and only spoke in low tones, as if speaking any louder would break them.

The only time this would stop was when one of the adults spoke to one of the three children in the group. Instead of pinched, worried expressions, they grew pinched smiles and their voice took on a false happy tone. As if everything was going to be okay. As if the CDC had been just a stop and going to Fort Benning had really been the plan all along.

Jovi started as Andrea spoke to Shane about cleaning his gun. They spoke in quiet voices but had something in their tone which Jovi couldn't quite describe. All she knew is that her mother had used the same tone with men.

As Jovi watched from the corner of her eye, Shane reached down and pulled gun from the bag below him. Jovi didn't know much about guns but she knew that one was Andrea's. "It's a sweet piece." He said, aiming the gun towards the back of the RV.

Andrea leaned her chin on her fist as she looked at the gun. A fond look came over her face. "It was a gift from my father." She explained, smiling slightly. "He gave it to me just before Amy and I took off on our road trip.

"He said two girls on their own should be able to defend themselves."

Shane gave a slight nod. "Smart man, your father." He looked down at the gun, checking the rounds. "It's a limited capacity. See?" He held the gun out to Andrea. "Only holds seven rounds."

At that moment, Dale spoke. "Aw, jeeze." Andrea and Shane glanced around to the front.

"Oh, no." Glen said lowly.

The RV slowed to stop and Jovi took the chance to peer out of the small window. Just ahead was a snarl of cars, seemly abandoned along the highway. Most had their doors left wide open, as if the owners had no intention of returning. Which was probably right, Jovi told herself as the adults clustered around the front of the RV.

Glen glanced down at the map he held in his hands just as the sound of her uncle's bike became louder. With her limited view, she could see her father slowly bringing the bike around to speak to Dale. "See a way through?" Dale called through the open window.

If her father replied, Jovi couldn't hear it but she caught his gaze as he passed to turn the motorbike back through the mess. Despite her sulky thoughts towards her father, Jovi felt relieved to see him.

She sat back in the chair as Dale got the RV moving again, taking his time as he worked his way around the cars.

Glen still had the map in his hands. "Uhh, maybe we should just go back." He suggested, glancing towards Dale. "There's an interstate bypass-."

Dale shook his head. "We can't spare the fuel." Jovi stared out the window at the underside of an overturned truck as they slowly made their way through. It was a morbid scene, Jovi thought. Morbid was a word from one of her older sister's books and she thought it described this situation perfectly. Jovi was still staring out the window when she saw a family inside one the cars. All of them were stiff with death, their skin had long since taken on a greyish purple hue and their lifeless eyes stared into nothing. She suddenly wanted to be back at home with her blanket over her head.

A tense silence was shared between the adults as they too looked at the carnage surrounding them. They were all thinking the same thing: _Hopefully this wouldn't last soon_.

Just as tension was beginning to run higher their thoughts were interrupted by a sudden hissing noise from the engine. As if a spell was broken, everyone began to move again. Dale began to make mutter to himself, his mouth pulled down into a frown as he stepped on the brakes and cut the engine and then went to get out of the RV. He slammed the door open and made his way to the steaming engine.

"I said it. Didn't I say it?" He asked. Jovi wasn't sure if he was talking to himself or everyone else. Stepping from the doorway, she felt the full Georgian heat glare down. "A thousand times. Dead in the water."

"Problem, Dale?" Shane asked. In his hand was a gun.

The other members of their group came up to meet them. She saw Rick and Lori with their son Carl, along with Carol and her daughter, Sophia. Sophia had lost her father back at the camp in the lorry. Although the memory would still be fresh, Sophia didn't seem the concerned about the loss. Neither did her mother. Most likely due to the fact, Ed had raised his fist to them many times. Carol taking the brunt of the abuse. If anything, there was the feeling of relief and freedom from the two females.

Daryl Dixon may be an emotional man but her father had never raised his hand to her. He had threatened, of course, when she was younger and defiant, but nothing had ever happened. She had once heard him say he'd rather throw himself off a cliff than hit her.

While Jovi considered the differences between her and Sophia's fathers, Dale was saying. "Just the small matter of being stuck in the middle of nowhere with no hope of-." Then he paused as he took in their surroundings. "Okay, that was dumb." He admitted.

The group agreed to search the area of supplies and any parts that could help fix the RV. Despite the initial hesitation to go through other peoples (most likely dead peoples) belongings, they all became more comfortable in their search.

Jovi had trailed behind the two mothers and the other two children as they began to peer into the open windows. Lori kept glancing at her to ensure she didn't stray too far from their sight. Jovi pretended not to notice, instead focusing on a sedan in front of her. The motherly concern reminded Jovi too much of her own mother and she didn't want to think about that. Instead, Jovi snuffled around the floor of a car.

The search proved fruitless with only CD's and rubbish littering the floor. _Maybe the front_. She thought, leaning across the empty space into the front of the car so only her legs were sticking out. She was just beginning to crawl into it when the growly voice of her father entered her ears. "Git out of the car." He said, leaning down towards her so his voice didn't carry. Jovi reared back in surprise, backtracking as quickly as she could. "There could be anything in the car. Anything that could bite." Jovi stood in front of her father, refusing to meet his eyes. "Use yer head."

She nodded and stared at the cross bow in his hand. Daryl sighed. "C'mon, stay with me." He muttered motioning with hand before stalking off to open another fuel door on a car. Jovi followed, feeling better now she was with her father.

She passed Carl, whose gaze she met before quickly looking away.

There had been other children at the camp at Atlanta, but she hadn't really been part of their group. Sharing her last name with her uncle Merle had cut her chances at making friends at the camp. Jovi could have salvaged friendships if she had tried but with her sullen demeanour, she had driven the other children off after a few tries.

Apart for Carl. Carl was the most friendly and outgoing of the children and, it seemed, the most insistent. Every time they played a game or did school work or went down the quarry to have a swim he would ask her to join.

Most times she would decline or say she had to do something with her father. There had been a few times where she had joined in, enjoying the feeling of not having to worry. Carl had been interested in the small knife she kept on her belt.

"Ever killed something with it?" Carl had asked lowly, staring at his mother's turned back. They were sitting at a camping table, doing school work Lori had said they were to do. Her uncle and father were out hunting, and her father had said to do what Lori told her.

Glancing at Lori, Jovi shook her head. "Nah. Dad usually does that."

Carl seemed disappointed. "Oh."

They wrote some more in silence. "I learned to gut things with it though." She said thoughtfully. Carl looked up at her and grinned.

"Cool. Could you show me?" He asked, his eyes sparkling with curiosity.

"Sure. Maybe if Dad brings something back I could -." Lori stepped over to the table. Their conversation was cut short. It had never led anywhere but it was kind of nice to know she was able to do something interesting.

Since then, they had only spoken a few times. More over the past week as there were only three children left, the adults tended to group them together.

Sophia on the other hand, had given Jovi a wide berth from the beginning. Jovi hadn't done anything to encourage their friendship. The blonde girls' timid manner reminded Jovi of a frightened rabbit. Sophia tended to jump at any sound, or huddle into the nearest person when something made her nervous. This only served to annoy Jovi, who would shake off Sophia if the other girl came close to her. Sophia's fear only reminded Jovi of her own, which Jovi tried very hard to forget.

Still, all in all, they were the only children left so they had to somewhat get along.

Lost in her thoughts, Jovi peered disinterestedly into car a window. There didn't seem to be anything of use in there. From behind, she heard to bow-legged gait of her father. "Need ter keep an eye out for a jacket for yer." He said, peering into the same car.

"I have one." She replied, looking up at him. "The denim one."

Her father frowned. "It's at the CDC."

_Oh. _That explained it. She had left behind one of her suitcases in the rush to get out of the CDC. Inside had been the bulk of her clothes.

"There's gotta be one around here." Jovi said, looking into the window with a sharper eye. "What else do we need?"

Daryl paused and glanced back at the rest of the group. He hadn't realised how far they had come. He then turned his eyes to the woods on the other side of the barrier. "Everything at the moment." He finally said, scanning the tree line. "Doubt there's much to hunt at the moment and we're low on water."

There was no where her father loved to be more than the woods. Any season, any type of weather, she knew that's where he would rather to be. Jovi watched as he walked towards T-Dog to help with extracting fuel from a car. "_Nothin' to worry about in the woods, nothin' 'cept hunting._" He told her once.

She watched with some interest at the process of fuel extraction but became more focussed on collecting – _looting – _from the car in front of her. She had heard to term looting from some of the people back at the camp. Someone had asked where Glen was and someone else had replied 'Looting'. She had asked Merle what it meant.

"Stealin'," He replied, holding out his hand for the sharp knife used for skinning. Merle had caught a rabbit in a trap nearby the camp and was prepping it for food.

Jovi handed him the knife. "Stealing what?"

Merle looked up at her and chuckled. "Stealin' whatever they want." The knife was poised to make the first cut at the neck.

"Isn't that wrong?" Merle frowned at her.

"Sweetheart, the world's gone to shit and you're worried if stealin' is wrong?" He noticed Jovi's face. He always had a soft spot for Jovi. He tried to curb his…_mannerisms _when she was around. "If the people aren't there to have it, it doesn't matter if you take somethin'."

Jovi felt a stab of longing for her uncle at the memory. She glanced at her father just in case he could read her mind and knew she was thinking of Merle. Any time she spoke of her uncle, her father got a funny look on his face and his temper fuse grew shorter. To shake away her thoughts, Jovi moved to the next car and saw a jacket that looked about her size flung across the seat. Triumphant, she opened the car door and picked it up. It was school jacket, dark grey, with _Jackson_ printed on the back. Jovi tried it on. It was a little big, but she could pull the sleeves up. Just as she was about to show her father, Daryl gripped her shoulders.

"Git into the car and lie down!" He hissed, shoving her forwarded. "On the floor." Jovi opened her mouth, but he cut in. "Don't argue, just do it! Walkers!" Fear flooded her, seemly filling her body with a cold liquid. She was glad that she didn't need to go to the bathroom at that moment. Jovi scrambled onto the car floor and curled up as small as possible. She felt her father throw the jacket over top of her then he must have closed the car door. Even with the door closed, it didn't stop the rotten smell from drifting into the car. It was the smell of decay.

She squeezed her eyes shut and pretended that she was back home in her bed. Something jolted the car, making a loud thump as it collided. It was then Jovi could hear the low hisses and moans as the walking dead stumbled past. They bumped into the car more frequently now. Each bump made her more fearful that the car door would somehow fly open. Their hands would then pull her from the car and tear into her, ripping bits of flesh from her bones.

Jovi's heart beat rapidly as her imagination went into overdrive. Images flashed in her eyes. Images of herself laying on the ground, left to rot like the bodies in the cars. Like the one's half eaten in the cities. Or would there be enough left of her to become a Walker? Left to stumble, searching for a camp like the one back at the lorry.

As much as she tried, Jovi could not stop herself from visualising the scene. To distract herself, Jovi peered out from her cover and saw the corpses limp past. Feeling bolder, she craned her neck a little more to get a better look. Each one seemed more horrid than the last. Jovi often thought they would be wearing rags, but their clothes seemed to be intact, or as much as they could when their arms were missing, or they had chunks bitten out of them. One was even missing her nose. That was when Jovi stuck her head back under the jacket and shut her eyes. Her legs began to cramp from being confined to a small space. She wished she could stretch but didn't want to risk the chance of being noticed so Jovi concentrated on the ache in her legs to take her mind off her of fear.

Seeming to go on forever, eventually the moans and hisses faded, and the air became still again. Jovi waited until there hadn't been anything hit the car for a time before she lifted her head. Swallowing, she stretched her cramping legs, enjoying the almost painful relief as she pointed her toes.

The car door flung open and Jovi glanced up, certain the fright would give her a heart attack. Light from the sun flooded her vision, making it almost impossible to see. _This was it. This was the end. A Walker was going to eat her. She was dead, dead, dead. _

But instead her eyes cleared and focused, the outlined filled in to reveal her father. As if in confusion, he squinted at her. "Com'on girl, they're gone." Jovi wriggled out, clutching the jacket in her pale hands. Her father placed his hands on her shoulders again once she stood up straight and frowned at her. "You alright?" he asked.

Jovi nodded, a little dimly. He grunted and dropped his hands, turning back to T-Dog who was still lying on the ground. Despite his overly, somewhat annoying cheerful nature, Jovi liked T-Dog. His chatty, friendly demeanor seemed to put people at ease. All excepting her uncle of course, but that was a different story. A story that ran from generations of racism.

T-Dog sat up, gripping his forearm hard. Blood dribbled from a rather nasty looking cut. T-Dog noticed her stare. "'T's fine." He mumbled. "Just need to wrap something around it." With slight reluctance, Jovi held out the jacket in her hands. "Nah, nah. You keep it." He insisted.

"Jus' take the damn jacket." Daryl growled, snatching it away from Jovi and tossing it at T-Dog. An anxiety ball formed in Jovi's stomach. Her father sounded mad. Was he mad because she gave the jacket away? _Always help someone when you can. _Her Poppy used to say.

"Thanks." T-Dog said. He wrapped the jacket around his arm and tried not to wince once he tightened it. Her father gripped his good arm to pull him up.

Suddenly, a strangled cry rang out through the air. All three heads whipped towards the sound. It came from their group. Something had happened. "What're they doing?" Her father growled. "They'll call the damn Walkers back." Pushing Jovi back towards the sound, together they stomped back towards the group.


End file.
